Thank you for listening to the show. It's the perfect mix of my two passions: podcasting and gardening. They both come together to create The Still Growing Gardening Podcast and bring it to life each week.

As gardeners, we have all
experienced the feeling ofbumbling our way through
gardeningnot to mention
the frustration ofwasting money and
time. In fact, that
feeling of bumbling along and that disappointment of having sunk
costs without a return on investment is why peoplehang up their trowel and head back to the market.Such a shame.

Well, today you’re in luck.
Megan Cain (SG557) is here to help us witha
smart approach to gardening- helping you create a clear plan for your
garden and helping you get more from your garden,
sooner.

Garden planning is a big job, but my gal Megan keeps it real withpractical, down-to-earth advice. If you’re the kind of gardener who wants
toget the most from your garden, year after
year, this episode with
Megan is perfect for you.

Megan sent me a copy of
herSmart Start Garden Plannerlast summer and I immediately recognized the
signature aspects of Megan’s work:

Clean design.

Simple layout.

Practical Advice.

In other words - the kind of
resource that appeals to gardeners.

Megan is known asThe Creative Vegetable
Gardener. She and her
husband, Mark, live on a corner lot in suburbanMadison, Wisconsin. And, in case you’re feeling like a late-comer
to the world of gardening,Megan never touched a
vegetable plant until the summer she turned 26. Today, she teaches people about how to
successfully grow their own food and get the most from their
vegetable gardens.

Now, there are a few things I
want to draw your attention to in this episode:

Big Picture

When
it comes to your garden, the big picture is made up ofa constellation of answersto many questions and those answersare unique to you.
You’ll hear Megan talk about a number of different
considerations that you should take into account and I have to say
that many of them seem pretty obvious - but then, some of them may
be real lightbulbs for you in terms of how you think of your 2018
garden.

Seed Smarts

Megan sharesa little primer on
seed types and reading seed packets. This is a great overview for new gardeners
especially.

Variety

I
really enjoyed Megan’s insights and encouragement when it comes to
selectingcool, new, or productive
varietiesof vegetables.
She makes a great point here. I hope you pay close attention
to this part and Megan also shares10 Unique and
Colorful Vegetables to Growplus herTop 6 Picks for
Annualsto make your veg
plot incredibly good looking.

One fun aside here: when the
kids were little and they got in trouble, Phil would ask
them“Was that smart or
not smart?”I don’t
know if they ever realized that if dad was asking that
question,the answer was always “Not
Smart”. But, to this
day, they still ask each other,“Smart or Not Smart?”, when something is not on
point.

Now imagine if there was an
accountability moment like that for us in our gardens...

We fail to read the seed packet and miss the fact that
there are 150 days to maturity.

Smart or not
smart?

We don’t realize that the small plant we held in the
Spring was going to take up 6-8 feet of space in the
garden.

Smart or not
smart?

We waste valuable space by planting too far apart -
fearing the plants will get to big.

Smart or not
smart?

There’s a point in the interview
where Megan says,"Experienced gardeners think about their
gardens in these terms - but sometimes
unconsciously.”

In real life, gardening
isa solitary endeavor. Alone in our gardens,we all
have some of the same constraints to deal with- there are limits to our time,
space, and energy. Revelations about our success or failure may
come to usor we may
miss them entirely.That’s where a thoughtful guide like Megan’s
comes in very handy.

As Megan says,"The most successful gardeners
take some time before the garden season begins to devise a simple
and smart plan for the year. A smart garden plan lays the
groundwork for a beautiful garden that yields lots of food for the
least amount of time and money invested. Simple garden planning
will set you up for a season where you’ll get more of what you
really want from your garden: food, beauty, and joy. And hopefully
a little less of what you don’t want: stress and
failure."

About the Podcast

Still Growing is a weekly gardening podcast dedicated to helping you and your garden grow.
Jennifer Ebeling is a home and garden blogger at 6ftmama.com & host of the Still Growing gardening podcast (available on iTunes & Stitcher Radio). Jennifer writes and records for the show in her home studio in lovely Maple Grove, Minnesota. You can read more about Jennifer on her About Page.
You can contact her at Jennifer {at} 6ftmama.com.